Ordered the Bullet!

[Lax coach]

I decided late last year that I wanted to upgrade from my 5-year old Gene Cafe--which has been fantastic--to the Aillio Bullet R1. Have been waiting patiently ever since for Sweet Maria's to get them in stock. Well they just did about 30 minutes ago, and my order is in!

Will probably be a few more weeks until it arrives, but I'm super excited for my new toy!

 

[Inkleg]

Awesome! Looking forward to following along on your new roasting journey. Isn't it @Ruint that has one also?

 

[Ruint]

Awesome! Looking forward to following along on your new roasting journey. Isn't it @Ruint that has one also?

Yes it is my friend!!! Congrats...you will not be disappointed!

 

[Ruint]

Hey Lax....you have a laptop ready? You can actually load up the software and poke around with it, while you wait for the delivery! If you haven't done so. There is Roastworld, Roast Time, and then community. 3 separate type accounts that you will need to choose. Roastworld and Time being the essential.....
Pretty sure that if you download Roasttime, you will have all of them, when you go to log in it asks which one you want to go to

 

[Lax coach]

Yep, just registered and installed the software. Hopefully the hardware will be here next week.

 

[Ruint]

You need to find the cheapest beans you can find. Your first five roasts are going to be nothing but charring the ever living shite out of them!! You will not be drinking from these batches!

 

[Lax coach]

I actually asked Sweet Maria's if they had some remnants or less-desirable beans they'd sell me, but they don't. The sack I'm currently working out of (Rwanda Nyamasheke Nyakabingo Station) was $4.40/lb, so that will have to do.

 

[Ruint]

Look at Burman's. They usually have a "special" you can get in the three dollar range

 

[Ruint]

https://burmancoffee.com/product/coffee/origin/colombia/colombian-supremo-medellin/

 

[Ruint]

Not for nothing....if you get extra of those beans, if you like coffee beans from Colombia, they make a dang good cup, when not roasting past 2nd crack....on that note, may I ask where you are going to use the bullet?

 

[Lax coach]

Not for nothing....if you get extra of those beans, if you like coffee beans from Colombia, they make a dang good cup, when not roasting past 2nd crack....on that note, may I ask where you are going to use the bullet?

Ironically, with shipping those come out to $4.70/lb, or 30 cents/lb more than my current sack.

Planning on roasting on a large cutting board on top of my range, same place I've been doing it for the past five years with my Gene Cafe. There's a 60" dual-motor 1200cfm range hood over it that direct vents to the outside.

 

[Ruint]

I forget about shipping, I usually get free shipping because my order size! That range should work. I know I was completely not ready for how much smoke is generated. Of course, I was using a heatgun/bread machine rig before, that my crappy hood vent was able to handle the smoke generated.

 

[Inkleg]

Mill City has seasoning greens also for $2.30 a pound, but you have to order 10 pounds.
https://millcityroasters.com/product-category/green-coffee/training-greens/

 

[Lax coach]

Mill City has seasoning greens also for $2.30 a pound, but you have to order 10 pounds.
https://millcityroasters.com/product-category/green-coffee/training-greens/

This is exactly what I was looking for, thanks! Shipping makes it a bit less of a great deal, but I'll probably just pick up some other beans at the same time to spread the cost.

 

[Lax coach]

And....they're sold out as of yesterday. Glad I got my order in.

 

[Ruint]

They usually don't last that long....tend to sell out fast. You want to really consider making a bean catcher/deflector also Lax. Them smoking hot beans shoot out all over the place...I used a plastic food grade bucket bought at a Lowe's. Cut it to make panels out of it that are slotted at the bottom so I can slip it onto the stock cooler tray. There is a thread on the community page that goes over this topic as well, if you haven't already seen it.

 

[mashpaddled]

I have a v1 and like it a lot. I had a recent problem with it after four years and Aillio was pretty cool about helping me out. I came off an SR700 which I use from time to time when I don't want to roast two pounds at a given time.

Definitely roast with the cheapest beans you can find those first five roasts because you need to burn the hell out of the beans to season the drum and absorb any residual chemicals from the manufacturing process. Throw them out and consider the extra $20 of beans to season the drum part of the cost of purchasing the roaster.

One thing that may surprise you about the Bullet is how much smoke it will produce. If you are one to roast insider under a vent on your Gene Cafe then strongly consider doing at least the seasoning roasts outside and see if your vent is built to take in that much smoke without filling your kitchen with a thick fog. If you live in a neighborhood where homes are close together and especially one where people have their windows open a lot you definitely want to vent the smoke above houses or through a filter.

 

[Lax coach]

I have a v1 and like it a lot. I had a recent problem with it after four years and Aillio was pretty cool about helping me out. I came off an SR700 which I use from time to time when I don't want to roast two pounds at a given time.

So far I've only done a pound at a time (500g to be exact). I was under the impression that if you go the full 1kg it tends to stretch the roast time longer than is ideal. If this isn't an issue at all, I'll have even fewer batches to roast.

Definitely roast with the cheapest beans you can find those first five roasts because you need to burn the hell out of the beans to season the drum and absorb any residual chemicals from the manufacturing process. Throw them out and consider the extra $20 of beans to season the drum part of the cost of purchasing the roaster.

Oh I did, went through 10 lbs of the Seasoning Greens from Mill City that @Inkleg recommended. $23 very well spent. Took them to about 245 C, black and oily, then let them cool back down to 230 or so with the drum and fan running full speed before dumping them into the cooling tray.

One thing that may surprise you about the Bullet is how much smoke it will produce. If you are one to roast insider under a vent on your Gene Cafe then strongly consider doing at least the seasoning roasts outside and see if your vent is built to take in that much smoke without filling your kitchen with a thick fog. If you live in a neighborhood where homes are close together and especially one where people have their windows open a lot you definitely want to vent the smoke above houses or through a filter.

This did not turn out to be an issue in the slightest. Towards the very end of the seasoning roasts was the only time I had to turn the hood up even a third of the way. The rest of the time it ran at just above the lowest setting (probably around 350-400 cfm), and happily evacuated all of the smoke. The actual roasts I did after that were with the fan turned all the way down (280 cfm).

To be fair though, my hood with the dial turned all the way down still moves 50% more air than a typical 30" hood cranked up as far as it will go. And it should--there are two giant blowers stuffed in there that each weigh more than a typical 30" hood.

It vents straight out the roof, so not bothersome at all. Most of the neighbors actually like how our whole block smells when I'm roasting anyway. Probably not so much for the seasoning roasts though....

 

[Lax coach]

So now that I'm about 1.5 months in, I think I'm familiar enough with the machine that I can start looking for tips on technique. All I've been doing so far is trying to keep the RoR around 10C as much as possible by bumping the power up/down when it drifts too far off. I have no idea if that's even close to "correct".

What sort of roasting profiles do you guys do, and how do you go about them?

 

[Ruint]

What is your preheat temp? Even though the Bullet forum encourages a higher preheat with 1kg roasts, I keep mine at 436 degrees Fahrenheit, large or small batches (it's that or damn close, been so long that I changed it...lol) and have very good results. I don't worry about the rate of rise, and often adjust my power setting to 9 within a minute of drop. 2 minutes after yellow phase adjust your fan speed to 4, to pull drum heat into the beans. 1.5 to 2 minutes after that, drop power to 7 or 6...and use the fan to control roast progression. Drop when you really like the aroma from the beans in the trier. Have you played with drum speed yet?? LoL!! If not, try a large roast, drop beans, power to max and slow drum to 5. It won't ruin your roast, after yellow, adjust drum speed up to 7 and go to first crack, then drop power to 6.....drop when happy... See if you like either of those....